I grew up in Chelsea and Newton, Mass. and now make my home in Arlington. I taught high school in Haverhill and Burlington until 2007, and have been a writer for about as long as I was a teacher. Maybe longer. While much of my writing is business-
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I grew up in Chelsea and Newton, Mass. and now make my home in Arlington. I taught high school in Haverhill and Burlington until 2007, and have been a writer for about as long as I was a teacher. Maybe longer. While much of my writing is business-related, I also write whenever I travel and I travel whenever I can.

Day Three of the tour. I arrived late on day One, minus luggage. I don the same clothes in which I arrived and I have to admit, I’m a feeling a little smug that, with only a carry-on and no suitcase (that I'd packed to the point of bursting), I am managing fine. “I can do this,” I think again.
Then, on the way to breakfast, I see my freshly delivered, beaten-but-still-intact suitcase at the front desk. I have mixed feelings. I was beginning to relish my pioneer spirit (pioneer, for me = having only two changes of clothes).
Today we depart Lisbon for good and begin the day with a visit to Evora, about seventy miles away. Evora is the capital of the south central region, Alentejo. First established by the Romans in 80 BC, the remains of a 2000 year-old Temple to Diana are only yards away from the town’s other major attraction, an 800-year old Gothic cathedral. The Temple was once part of the forum and main square in the first century CE. Our Evora guide suggests that the building was more likely dedicated to the emperor than to Diana.

Evora-Temple to Diana No matter who the temple honored, for me, it’s an arresting sight. I come from the ‘new world’ where the oldest buildings I see go back about 300 years. I've seen evidence of populations going back further than that in America, but still, a building over two thousand years old -- hard to grasp.
After the Romans, Visogths ruled Evora, and then, from 715 CE, the Moors. The city was recaptured by Christians in 1166 and became a favored base for the court.
Giraldo the Fearless was the Christian knight who led a surprise attack that retook Évora from the Moors in 1166. Giraldo was made Governer of the town, and Évora's coat of arms, a knight on horseback, represents him. After Giraldo's conquest, the victors built their cathedral on the site that had previously been dedicated to the mosque.

Fearless Geraldo All that's left of Moor rule are wrought-iron balconies of the buildings that ring the square, and the occasional distinctive Mudejar, or "keyhole" window.